My Brother and Me is a Kid Com that aired for only one season on Nickelodeon from 1994 to 1995. The star is Alfred "Alfie" Parker, the Straight Man older brother, Derek "Dee Dee" Parker, the Annoying Younger Sibling, and their bored sister Melanie. Alfie's best friend is Milton "Goo" Berry, an Ace who often tries to sweet-talk the uninterested Melanie. Their parents, Roger and Jennifer Parker, are your typical sitcom parents.
It is a typical Slice of Life show, with the main conflicts being Alfie and Goo's struggle with Dee Dee and his friends, Goo's unrequited love for Melanie and disdain for her friend Deonne, and the brothers' attempts to keep out of trouble with their parents.
Has nothing to do with My Brother, My Brother and Me.
This work provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Goo to Melanie, although they do pretend to be going steady in "The Surprise" so they can plan a surprise birthday party for Alfie without him catching on.
- Accidental Misnaming: In "Hit the Open Man", the coach has a habit of misnaming the three main characters. He refers to Alfie as "Ralphie", Goo as "Glue", and Dee Dee as "Zee Zee". Oddly enough, he doesn't misname other characters.
- Adults Are Useless: Surprisingly averted; Roger and Jennifer are very involved with their kids. Teachers and coaches are refreshingly useful as well.
- Ageless Birthday Episode:
- The episode where Dee Dee learns how to dance, so that he doesn't embarrass himself at Donnell's birthday party.
- Alfie has one, complete with a surprise party wraparound plot.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: The kids and even his wife consider Roger to be this at times.
- And a Diet Coke: In one episode, Roger makes a comically large submarine sandwich for lunch that he prepares to eat all by himself and wash down with root beer. Then, after judging the sandwich's weight, Roger decides to settle on diet root beer, instead.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Dee Dee is the annoying sibling to Alfie. Alfie is the annoying sibling to Melanie. Dee Dee annoys Melanie at times although to a much lesser degree.
- Arch-Enemies: Goo and Deonne, except in the case of his Easy Amnesia in "Sensitive Goo".
- Artistic License – Geography: In "The Hair Cut", Melanie quizzes Alfie on what the state capital of Tennessee is. He incorrectly guesses Cleveland, instead of Nashville, to which Melanie responds upon telling him the right answer: "Cleveland isn't even in Tennessee". Clearly, the writers didn't know that a Cleveland, Tennessee actually does exist. It's 163 miles southeast of Nashville, and is much smaller than the more well known Cleveland in Ohio.
- Big Brother Bully: Alfie is occasionally this towards Dee Dee.
- Big Brother Instinct: Alfie occasionally does for Dee Dee, such as in "The Bully" where Alfie shows a protective and concerned side towards his younger brother whenever he's getting bullied.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: All three of the Parker children. Melanie puts mustard on a cheese sandwich, Alfie puts mayonnaise on raisin bread, and Dee Dee puts ketchup on a PB&J sandwich.
- Break the Haughty: Alfie gets this in "Hit the Open Man" when he gets cut from the senior basketball team for being a showboating ball hog even though he's a fairly talented player.
- Bumbling Dad:
- Roger can be this at times.
- It's implied that Harry's dad is this. For example, he once did Harry's math homework for him... and failed it.
- Catchphrase:
- Donnell's "Don't hold your breath!"
- "It must run in the family."
- "You're a JERK, Goo!"
- Alfie frequently says, "Aww, man!" when he gets into trouble with his parents.
- From Roger: "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"
- Mrs. Pinckney, the owner of the comic book store, has a variant. She loves making sure that her customers have money before selling them anything.
- Comical Overreacting: Deonne's shtick.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Alfie gets cut from the basketball team for his ball hogging antics, his dad tries to cheer him up with an analogy of Michael Jordan:Dad: Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basketball team, and look at him now!Alfie: (in his head) Yeah? He's playing minor league baseball!
- Cool Big Sis: Melanie, to Dee Dee. With Alfie it comes and goes.
- Cool Big Bro: Dee Dee feels this way about Alfie and is ecstatic when he can hang with "the big kids." Whether or not Alfie actually fills the role depends on the episode.
- Deadpan Snarker:
- Melanie, especially towards Alfie and Goo. It fits her personality as a bored and somewhat snobby teenage girl:
Goo: Heyyy, Melanie. Your prayers have been answered!Melanie: Then why are you here?- Goo is often more snarky than deadpan, but he can occasionally be both.
Goo: Ahem. Aren't you forgetting something? (holds telephone)Alfie: Oh. Toya. I'll call her later.Goo: Maybe this time, you'll say hello. - Easy Amnesia: In "Sensitive Goo", Goo gets hit in the head with a basketball, which alters his personality for the weekend. Instead of being called Goo, he wanted Alfie to call him Milton, his real name. Instead of being mean to Dee Dee, he befriends him and calls him Derek. Instead of crushing on Melanie, he goes for Deonne. The biggest irritation to Alfie, beside calling him Alfred constantly, is that he prefers not to procrastinate with his homework, and prefers to work all weekend rather than enjoy the weekend festivities. Of course, Goo gets better by episode's end, courtesy of another bonk to the head.
- Embarrassing First Name: Goo's real name is Milton.
- Escalating War: The pranks between the kids in "The Joke's On You".
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: The B plot of "Dance" involves Alfie being grounded because he failed a math quiz. However, he isn't grounded because he failed, but Roger finds out the Alfie and Goo were planning to cheat off a smart girl who stayed home sick that day.
- Fat Best Friend: Goo is this for Alfie.
- The Ghost:
- Uncle Lawrence.
- Deonne's "boyfriend", Tim.
- Generation Xerox: Donnell's mother also has a habit of saying, "Don't hold your breath!"
- Girls with Moustaches: Aunt Helen is occasionally mentioned, and each time, they bring up her mustache.
- Hopeless Suitor: Goo for Melanie.
- Hypocritical Humor: In one episode, while Goo and Alfie are looking for Dee Dee, Mrs. Pinckney, the owner of the comic shop, asks, "Does he have two friends?" to which Goo replies, "Yeah, and only two friends." Given that Goo's only apparent friend is Alfie...
- Imagine Spot:
- The "Goo Punch" scene.
- Alfie retorts with one of his own: "Space Alfies."
- Insistent Terminology: In "The Joke's On You", Roger said he hates reporters. Melanie tells him he's a reporter, but Roger says he's actually a sports columnist.
- It's Personal: In "The Joke's On You", Donnell and Harry join Dee Dee in pranking back Alfie and Goo after they threw water balloons at them.
- Jerkass: Many of the characters are this in varying degrees.
- Local Hangout: The comic shop "Books & Comics".
- Men Can't Keep House: In "Sensitive Goo", Roger is in charge of the house while Jennifer is away until Jennifer's older sister, Helen, steps in. When Helen arrives, the kitchen is untidy due to Roger's negligence.
- Mouthy Kid: Donnell is this.
- Narcissist:
- Goo.
- Melanie to an extent.
- Alfie has his moments.
- Noodle Incident: From the "A Stranger Among Us" teaser, whatever the ending was to Aunt Helen's story about when Alfie was two and pulled his pants down in church.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: In "Sensitive Goo", Roger is not pleased when Jennifer's older sister, Helen, meddles with his control of the house and bosses him around while Jennifer is away. Likewise, Helen doesn't have the highest opinion of Roger either. When she first meets Goo, she assumes he's on Roger's side of the family because of the "loud" pajamas he was wearing.
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- Goo hates being called by his real name, except in "Sensitive Goo" where he suffers Easy Amnesia and prefers it. Otherwise, only Karen calls him by his first name.
- This applies to Goo's cousins, who are named Moo and Boo.
- Alfie and Dee Dee are known by their nicknames instead of their actual first names, Alfred and Derek, respectively. In "Sensitive Goo", almost every character acts confused as to who Alfred and Derek are when they're not referred as their nicknames.
- Power Trio: Dee Dee, Donnell, and Harry.
- Real-Person Cameo: Several basketball players appear on the show.
- Rhymes on a Dime: This is the format the kids' school production of Robin Hood took, with pretty good results.
- Running Gag:
- Mrs. Pinckney occasionally kicks out Dee Dee and his two friends out of the comic shop. She also expects her costumers to have money.
- Roger has a habit of telling his life stories, and the family will run off so they won't hear them:
"You gotta come down sometime!"- Deonne's tendency to over-exaggerate the potential consequences of anything, usually involving her boyfriend "Tim".
- Goo making fun of Deonne, especially her "fake" hair:
"Zero, one, two, three, sure looks like a weave to me. It's phony. Yeah, yeah, it's phony!" - Sassy Black Woman: Mrs. Pinckney is this towards the customers of the comic shop.
- School Play: Robin Hood in "Real Men Don't Wear Tights".
- Short-Runners: Sadly, this is a classic case of a show not outlasting its original thirteen episode order.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Alfie and Goo. Granted they're both 11.
- Melanie also has a highly inflated opinion of herself.
- Special Guest: NBA players Kendall Gill and Dennis Scott.
- This Means War!: Alfie says this in "The Joke's On You" after Melanie and Deonne threw pies at them as revenge for tricking Dee Dee and his friends with extra chili hot dogs, and being forced to clean up the mess.
- Token White: Harry is the only major white character in the show.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Roger has a craving for gumbo.
- When I Was Your Age...: Roger is a huge fan of this, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family.
- With Friends Like These...: At times, Harry and Donnell fall into this category for Dee Dee.
